Vail Cascade Blog

Atwater Beer Buzz May 27

Hope you had a great Memorial weekend! It's the beginning of whitewater season and with the ucomping GoPro Mountain Games, there are plenty of reasons to come out of hibernation. At Vail Cascade, the pool bar is opening in preparation for an amazing summer. Let the fun begin!

Meet the Brewmaster in Fireside Bar, Friday from 4–7pm for a complimentary tasting and then Saturday will be the fantastic Small Plates & Craft Beer Pairing starting at 6pm in Atwater on Gore Creek. Reserve your seats for this guided tour through four plates especially designed by the culinary team for these specific beers. Discussion will be held between each course by both Peter Bouckaert and the Atwater Chefs. Seats are $35++ and can be reserved by either emailing Laura at laura@customizedcraftbeerprograms.com or by calling 970.479.7014.

New update! The beers chosen for the Small Plates Pairing will be:

New Belgium Snapshot

New Belgium Slow Ride Session IPA

New Belgium Pear Ginger Beer

New Belgium Cocoa Mole

The Fireside Feature coming up will be Odell Tree Shaker Peach IPA.

The Vail Cascade cellar program roll-out has been delayed to June 15 to coincide with staff training and the increase in business at the resort. While a bit disappointing that it wasn't available over the long weekend, the delay does allow for an additional list item to be available: Odell Myrcenario.

As your reward for checking out this blog, here’s the list that we have developed to tantalize you until June 15. As promised, more details and brewery links will be available on social media between now and then. Drum roll please...

Epic Elder Brett, Salt Lake City, UT

New Belgium La Folle, Ft. Collins, CO

Paradox Scully #24, Woodland Park, CO

Left Hand Great Juju, Longmont, CO

Boulevard Chocolate Ale, Kansas City, MO

Stone Chai Spiced Imperial Russian Stout, Escondido, CA

Deschutes Not the Stoic, Bend, OR

Sierra Nevada Barrel Aged Bigfoot, Chico, CA

Odell Myrcenario, Ft. Collins, CO

The Cellar List criteria are few and flexible. We are featuring a single case of each beer, and the list will be perpetually rotating to show rare, limited release, allocated, iconic, experimental, unique and fun products. There are a crazy number of these beers. Finding them and scoring a case for your drinking pleasure is our goal.

Follow us on Facebook to see more about these delicious and unusual beers over the next 2 weeks. Have a tremendous week, and we look forward to seeing you soon!

Atwater Beer Buzz September 2

Seems a little early to me, too, but any reason to celebrate craft beer is a good one. Add to that the myriad of activities available in the mountains right now, and you have it all in a nutshell.

The Brewmaster’s Weekend at the Vail Cascade is merely the icing on the cake! Join us next weekend, September 5 & 6, for our Boulder Beer Brewmaster’s Weekend. David Zimmerman, Boulder Beer’s Brewmaster, will be joining us with his family for our weekend of events.

Meet the Brewmaster on Friday in Fireside Bar from 4 – 7pm for a complimentary sampling of a variety of Boulder beers, take advantage of the opportunity to ask questions and learn more about craft beer & Boulder Beer from David himself, and enjoy Boulder specials all weekend long.

Saturday at 6pm is our Small Plates & Craft Beer Pairing, which is a four course guided tour by both the Brewmaster and our Vail Cascade Culinary Team through four specially created food & beer pairings. I would suggest holding your seats now, as we expect to sell out this event.

This delicious event usually lasts about 1 ½ hours, costs $35++/person, and is a wonderful experience. You can make your reservation by either emailing me back at LLLodge@hotmail.com (until 9/5) or by calling Atwater on Gore Creek at 970-479-7014.

Looping back to Oktoberfest, the first Vail Oktoberfest weekend is also happening September 5 & 6, so you can enjoy the best of both Oktoberfest and craft beer! Enjoy a fantastic, long, Labor Day weekend, and we look forward to seeing you soon!

The Big Beers, Belgians & Barleywines festival is the highlight of the winter wonderland of fun in legendary Vail, Colorado. Big Beers is a World Class International Beer Festival, complete with Brewmasters’ Dinners and seminars by some of the world’s most innovative Brewers…it’s the ultimate “Beer-cation!” Join us for the 15th annual festival Jan 8-10, 2015 at the Vail Cascade Resort & Spa. For more information visit us at www.bigbeersfestival.com and stay tuned on Facebook.

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Oct282013

Atwater Beer Buzz October 28

Posted by Laura Lodge, Craft Beer Program | October 28, 2013

Greetings!

Planning season is underway, with talks of Thanksgiving dinner and Holiday seasonal specialty beers mixed in with our Halloween costume contest. It’s really a holiday scramble, but the best kind with terrific ideas and fantastic adventures coming your way!

On the craft beer radar, our next Brewmaster’s Weekend will be December 6 & 7 with Steve Fletcher of AC Golden Brewing Co. We’re excited to get samples from Steve this week for the Small Plates & Craft Beer Pairing event, so menu development will be underway shortly!

AC Golden Brewmaster’s Weekend will have our traditional format, with Meet the Brewmaster on Friday evening from 4–7pm for a complimentary tasting of a variety of AC Golden craft beers. The Small Plates & Craft Beer Pairing adventure is Saturday at 6pm, with a guided tour through the four pairings from both the Atwater Culinary Team and our AC Golden featured guest. Make your reservations early, as it’s going to be a busy time of the year!

Special note: Remember to sign up for the Atwater Sweepstakes at www.AtwaterSweepstakes.com in order to win a free night at Vail Cascade plus two seats to the AC Golden Brewmaster’s Weekend Small Plates & Craft Beer Pairing event!

Wednesday’s Craft Beer Tasting was a huge success this week, with nearly everyone in the hotel coming down to experience the tasting and learn about Ska’s beers from Casey Ryan. Since this is a slower time of the year, it’s tough to predict what the turnout will be on any given week, and the crowd – both local and hotel guests – really enjoyed their beer selection and hanging out in Fireside. Nice job, and thank you so much Casey!

Next week you can look forward to special Halloween treats from Great Divide Brewing Co. in Denver. Tracey Kling will be on hand with a diverse collection of craft beers, including Nomad Pilsner, Hoss Rye Lager and Hibernation Ale. In addition, she’s going to see what treats she can snag from the brewery, so come on by to check it out! 4:30–6:30, Fireside Bar, complimentary craft beer tasting & 20% off Atwater Small Plates…see you then!

No new beers on the list to report this week, although we have a couple of fun things waiting in the wings!

Flights and Bites continue with our Fall Craft Draft Selection, including the following:

Prost Weisbier

Hoegaarden

Samuel Adams Octoberfest

Epic Escape to Colorado IPA

Tommyknocker Maple Nut Brown

Come on in and enjoy a leisurely evening by the fireplace or down listening to Gore Creek enjoying the crisp mountain air! Lots of reasons to visit right now, with our 3 for $33 special in Atwater and 20% off of our entrees for locals. Room rates are also terrific, and if you’d like to come visit check out our special craft beer booking rates here: www.vailcascade.com and use the promo code VCBeer1.

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Sep202013

Atwater Beer Buzz September 20

Posted by Laura Lodge, Craft Beer Program | September 20, 2013

Fall is in the air!

You wouldn’t know it by looking at the aspen trees yet, but it just got substantially cooler in the last couple of days. I’m sure the beautiful gold blanket is just around the corner. It certainly is an exciting time for craft beer, too, as you get into the Fall seasonals and bigger, more complex flavors. ‘Pumpkin everything’ seems to be the hype, so we’re bringing in a variety to keep your taste buds hopping! We’ve enjoyed Shipyard Pumpkinhead and New Belgium Pumpkick, currently have Epic Imperial Pumpkin Porter and Elysian Night Owl Pumpkin on our list, and are looking forward to Dogfish Punkin and perhaps some Upslope Pumpkin…plus Oktoberfests, Weisses, and all sorts of Fall spirit.

We have a really busy Fall season this year, with conferences and other group gatherings filling up the weeks – and weekend escapees taking over on the weekends. The Colorado Grand has been here this week, and our parking garage looks like a museum with all of the fantastic cars! Looking forward, our next Brewmaster’s Weekend will be December 6 & 7. Steve Fletcher will be coming up from AC Golden, showcasing products from their largely experimental world. It will be a traditional weekend, with the Meet the Brewmaster event on Friday evening and Small Plates & Craft Beer Pairing on Saturday at 6pm.

Wednesday Craft Beer Tastings continue to be steady and quite popular. Brian Dillon poured for a diverse crowd of locals and guests this week, and the Odell products were very well received. Certainly the hop heads always enjoy the IPA and ‘lighter’ drinkers soak up the 90 Shilling, but there was a lot of discussion about the Odell portfolio with this crowd, enjoying everything that was in their glass. A nice compliment! Many thanks to Brian for his time, sharing his knowledge, and bringing great products to sample.

Next Wednesday Jeff Kurtenbach from New Belgium Brewing Co is slated to host our tasting, so mark your calendar from 4:30 – 6:30pm and join us in Fireside Bar to sample a selection of New Belgium products. Small Plates will once again be 20% off for the duration of the tasting, so come enjoy!

New on our craft beer list this week are the following:

Prost Weisbier, Hefeweisen, Denver, CO (draft)

Avery Maharaja, Imperial IPA, Boulder, CO

Left Hand Stranger Pale Ale, Longmont, CO

Flights & Bites continues with an ever-rotating lineup. It’s changing in an unpredictable fashion this time, so it’s perpetually a surprise. Right now, the offering is:

Prost Weisbier

Oskar Blues Mamma’s Little Yella Pils

Samuel Adams Octoberfest

Great Divide Rumble IPA

Ohara’s Irish Stout

We have several different ‘special’ reasons to dine at Atwater on Gore Creek right now, including our 3 courses for $33 special and a locals promotion offering a 20% discount on entrees. Come down to relax on our creekside patio with a delicious seasonal craft beer…and have a fantastic weekend!

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May032013

Atwater Beer Buzz May 2

Posted by Laura Lodge, Craft Beer Program | May 03, 2013

Greetings!

Chilly sunshine during the day and snow at night, that’s what Vail is made of at the moment. It provides hope and inspiration for a beautiful spring and summer, but they aren’t here quite yet! American Craft Beer Week is just around the corner, though, so we’ll celebrate with tasty beers as we wait for the melt and warming to happen.

May 13 – 19th is the scheduled nationwide celebration of American Craft Beer (www.craftbeer.com). The Declaration of Beer Independence begins “I declare that these are historic times for beer, with today’s beer lover having inalienable rights, among these life, liberty, and the pursuit of hops and malt fermented from the finest of U.S. small and independent craft brewers …” and finishes with “I, therefore, declare to support America’s small and independent craft brewers during American Craft Beer Week and beyond…”

We’re making it easy for you to support America’s small and independent craft brewers by offering a 20% discount on all American craft beers on our list for the entirety of American Craft Beer Week. Join us in Fireside Bar for a terrific American craft beer & small plate or – better yet – enjoy our Atwater on Gore Creek “3 courses for $30” special and pair your dining experience with American craft beers. There’s no way you can go wrong!

Keep Wednesday, May 29th on your radar for the return of our Wednesday Craft Beer Tasting events! AC Golden will be kicking it off and Left Hand Brewing Co. will follow on June 5. The series will continue throughout the summer and into the fall… There’s nothing quite like a complimentary beer tasting to get over the hump every week!

You got the good word about our Brewmaster’s Weekends and the new Sip, Savor & Brew program in last week’s emails, and this week we are pleased to announce that the Sip, Savor & Brew Weekend on September 6 & 7 will feature the following special guests of the Colorado Brewers Guild:

Remember that Colorado Brewers Guild SOCIAL members get a free lodging upgrade for Sip, Savor & Brew weekends, so dig out those membership cards and get ready to be spoiled! If you need more information about the SOCIAL program, you can find it here: http://coloradobeer.org/social

Atwater Sweepstakes are going to be up and running for our newly scheduled Brewmaster’s Weekends as well, so stay tuned for the starting gun! You can enter for a free night’s stay and tickets for the Small Plates & Craft Beer Pairing for each weekend that you would be available. More in next week’s edition!

If you’d like to find quiet in the mountain air, this is a great time to join us! Our booking link for the craft beer zone - with great rates - can be found here. Come on up and relax! We never know what Mother Nature will bring, but the hospitality, hot tubs, infinity pool, fantastic food, great craft beer and amazing views are always available.

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Jan182013

Atwater Beer Buzz January 18

Posted by Laura Lodge, Craft Beer Program | January 18, 2013

Greetings!

Congratulations are in order! Our Atwater Sweepstakes Winner for our February Brewmaster’s Weekend with Tommyknocker Brewery is Matthew Corbin. Matt has won two seats at the Small Plates & Craft Beer Pairing with Eric Rode from Tommyknocker and lodging for that evening at the Vail Cascade Resort. Our next sweepstakes drawing is early February, so get yourself registered to win at www.AtwaterSweepstakes.com.

The Big Beers Festival was a huge weekend for Atwater and Fireside, and the group blew through more than 25 eclectic, donated kegs (5 gal) from the generous participating breweries over the course of Thursday and Friday. Both Brewmasters’ Dinners, which are double beer-pairing dinners with two Brewmasters, were a tremendous sold-out success with tasty pairings by the Atwater culinary team. And, in spite of the Bronco’s play-off game being scheduled at exactly the same time as the Commercial Tasting, craft beer fans crowded the Conference Center for Saturday afternoon. (the game was shown at the event as well)

Back to a more normal schedule, our Wednesday Craft Beer Tastings resumed Wedensday night with Brian Dillon from Odell Brewing Co. Resort guests and locals enjoyed a wide selection of Odell libations, from Odell 90 Shilling and IPA to their brand new Lugene Chocolate Milk Stout and Cutthroat Porter. The current seasonal, the hoppy Odell Red, was a highlight as well. Next week come on in to join Josh Breckel from Left Hand Brewing Co. as he treats us to a variety of Left Hand products from Longmont, CO from 4:30–6:30pm on Wednesday evening.

February 8th and 9thwill be the target dates for our Tommyknocker Brewmaster’s Weekend, so make sure to mark your calendars! Friday evening from 4:00–7:00pm will be the traditional open tasting in Fireside Bar, and then on Saturday beginning at 5:00pm the Small Plates & Craft Beer Pairing event takes over a section of Atwater on Gore Creek. The Tommyknocker team is currently selecting the beers for the pairing, and the culinary team will be working their magic shortly after. I’ll keep you posted with the beer selections, and then with the menu when it’s finalized!

New on the craft beer list over the past 2 weeks are (lots of large format was sold over Big Beers!):

Sending warm, Fireside thoughts your way during this chilly January and looking forward to seeing you here soon! Remember that we always offer complimentary valet parking to our Atwater on Gore Creek and Fireside Bar guests.

Virginia

Washington

Washington, D.C.

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